Railroad tie



Oct. 28, 1924.

K. GREENFIELD RAILROAD TIE Filed Dec. 5,

1923 2 Sheets-Sheet WY l.

Oct 28; 1924.

K. GREENFIELD RAILROAD TIE Filed nec. 5, 192s 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Parenteeloci. 28,1924. i i 1,513,455,

KOHLER GREENFIELD, F KERNERSVILLE, NORTHV CAROLINA.

RAILROAD TIE.

Application filed December 5, 1923. Serial No. 678,710.

To all w/Lom t may concern.' beyond the sides of the top plate toprovide Be it known that I, KoHLnR (irRnENFIELD, trunnions 8 fitting' inthe vnotches 4 of the a citizen of the United States, residing at baseso that the top plate may readily rock Ilernersville7 in the county ofForsyth and upon the base. Cap plates 9 are secured to .00 State ofNorth Carolina, have invented certhe base at each side of the top plate,and

tain new and useful Improvements in Railthese cap plates rest upon theupper edges i road Ties, of which the following is a speciof the flanges2, as shown in F ig. l, and are ligation, y further provided withdepending' webs 10 My present invention has for its object the whichbear against the side of the base andy 65 10 provision of a railroad tieof novel construcare bolted thereto. Midway their ends, the'r tion whichwill yieldably support the track webs 10 are providedwith notches lvladapt-l railsI so that the comfort of passengers in ed to lit over thetrunnions 8 and on their trains passing over the road will be enhanced.inner sides the cap plates are provided with Another object of theinvention is to prolugs 12 litting in the upper ends of the 15 vide arailroad tie which will be durable and notches 4 and bearing upon thetrunnions 8 may be easily and rapidly laid in the roadbed, to preventvthe same rising` so as to be deand the invention seeks further toprovide a taehed from the base. The top plate 7 is prorailroad tracksupport having resilient qualivided on its under side with a dependingties which will, nevertheless, firmly support enlargement or body 13which fits between the rails and the parts of which will not be thesides of the chamber 3 in the base, and i apt to become separatedthrough customary the under surface of this l enlargement or usage.These stated objects, and other obbody is formed on inclined planesconvergjects which will incidentally hereinafter aping downwardly fromits ends to its center" pear, are attained in such a device as isillusso as to merge into the rocker or rib y6 which 80 trated in theaccompanying drawings, and is illustrated as an integral part of the topthe invention resides in certain novel fea` plate. The groove 5 in thebase is, of course, tures which will be particularly pointed outconcentric with and seats the fulcrum or in the appended claims. rib 6while the ends of the top plate rest In the drawing: upon springs 14which are disposed at the Figure l is a perspective view of my imends ofthe base in sockets l5 provided thereproved railroad tie showing a pairof track for and bear against the under side of the rails thereon, therails being in section; top plate, as shown clearly in Fig. 2. The Fig.2 is a longitudinal section on the line sockets or recesses 15 willserve to prevent 2`2 of Fig, l; displacement of the springs 14 butbosses 16 90 Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the line may be providedon the underside of the top 3*?) of Fig. 2; plate to engage in the upperends of the Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the top springs to aid incentering the same if so plate, and desired. In the upper surface of thetop Fig. 5 is a View showing the base and the plate 7 adjacent the endsthereof, I form 95 cap plates in perspective. transverse grooves 17 inwhich the base In carrying out my invention, I employ a flanges of therails 18 are received, the said base 1, which is preferably of metal, ofsuitgrooves being of suchwidth that they will able dimensions to extendacross a roadbed snugly engage the bases ofthe rails so that andprovided at its top along its sides with movement of the railstransversely of the 100 vertical flanges or ribs 2. The central portrackwill be prevented, spreading of the tion of the base is recessed, asshown at 3 rails being thereby avoided and the gage of whereby toprovide a chamber which will the road being maintained. To retain theaccommodatethe fulcrumorrockerofthotoprails upon the top plate 7, Iprovide the plate, and at the centers of the side portions keeper plates19 which are secured upon the 105 of the base are notches or openings,intop plate 7 at opposite sides of the rails and dicated at 4, whichextend to the top of the have their inner edge portions slightlyoffsame, as will be understood. Extending set vertically, as shown at20, whereby they across the base is a channel 5 which is alined areadapted to t over the base flanges of the with the lower ends of thenotches 4 and acrails. The keeper plates 19 are secured to H0 commodatesa transverse rib 6 on the under the top plate 7 by bolts 2l or theirequiva side of the top plate 7, which rib is extended lents and theinner edges of the said plates abut the rails so that the rails will befirmly secured upon the top plate of the tie, as will be understood.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, it Will. be seen that I lrave provided anexceedingly simple railroad tie which is strong and durable inconstruction. The ends of lie upper member of the tie Will be yieldablysupported by the springs l5 but it will be prevented Jfrom moving out ofplace `vertically by the caps or keeper plate-s 9 which engage over thetrunnions 8. l/Vhen load is imposed upon the track, as by a passingtrain, the springs ld Will yield sliglrtly to the load so that the loadWill be sustained but the travel oit the train Will be cushioned. Shouldthe train or any one oar in the train be loaded more heavily upon oneside than on the other side, the resilient mounting at the ends of thetop plate Will permit the said plate to accommodate such inequality ofthe load to the limit of compression of the spring and contact betweenthe end of the upper member and the end ot the base member and willthereby tend to overcome the liability of freight to shift about in thecar While the passengers will not be subjected to discomfort. orinconvenience. My impro-ved tie is compact and may be produced,assembled and laid at a less cost than less durable ties are newfurnished.

lt is" to bev understood that While the drawings show the preferredembodiment of the invention, l do not limit myself te the pre` cisedetails illustrated as various minor changes may be made thenein Withoutdeparting from the invention as the same is defined in the followingclaims.

Having thus described the invention, l claim:

l. A railroad tie comprising a base lraving a longitudinally extendingchamber in its upper side midway its ends, a` top plate provided on itsunder side at its center with a rocker adapted to seat in said chamber,means to engage said rocker and retain the top plate in its operativerelation to the base, and yieldable supports upon the base for the endsot the top plate.

EZ. A railroad tie comprising a base lraving longitudinally extendingrecess in its upper side midway its ends and provided at its center witha transverse groove in the bottom of said recess, a top plate having adepending rocker body on its under side at its center, said rocker bodybeing formed with laterally projecting trunnions at *the sides of thetop plate to engage in the side portions of the base, yieldab-lesupports carried by the base for the ends of the top plate, and keeperplates secured upon the base and engaging over the said trun-nionswhereby to retain the top plate upon the base.

ln testimony vvliereoi l affix my signa- UFG. Y l

noHLnR ernannt-nti); it. s]

